Nature Study: Butterflies

Kyla and Avery have had a lot of "catching up" to do since we've moved into our new house. We lived in an apartment until Kyla was 3 1/2 in Los Angeles and so running around outside all day in her barefeet didn't happen very much unless we were at the park. We were in Charlotte until Kyla was 5 and Avery was almost 3, and even though they were outside more, our small little backyard wasn't very "exciting" for them...not much to explore. Just a patch of grass. Adding to that, Avery's outdoor allergies, we spend a lot of time inside.

Well, Kyla has been spending about 70% of her days outside in our big backyard catching butterflies all day long. She's also caught a praying mantis, and other little bugs that roam around. Then, she comes inside and draws them in her nature journal and this is the science portion of her homeschooling for kindergarten this year: observation. Simply soaking in and absorbing all of the nature around her and then drawing pictures of what she sees. She loves every minute of this and I do too!